A photograph of 1942 shows the artist laying out Victory

Boogie Woogie (VBW) in continuous, uniform lines that

he presumably then divided to form a variety of planes.

He believed that the painting was actually finished at a

certain point but later felt dissatisfied with the result

and reworked the canvas with modifications that death

prevented him from making permanent. The canvas was

thus left with the colored tape provisionally added du-

ring the phase of rethinking, and it is my impression

that this was no coincidence. I believe that VBW was

necessarily left incomplete.

The canvas is the same size as the one used for Broad-

way Boogie Woogie (BBW) but this time in the lozenge

position.

What characterizes the composition at first sight is a

further increase in multiplicity.

Another significant difference with respect to BBW con-

sists in the almost complete absence of continuity in the

lines, which are reduced to seven horizontal and two

vertical rectilinear sequences.

The lines appear continuous in BBW because the space

between the small squares is predominantly yellow.

The rectilinear sequences of VBW are instead made up

of a tighter rhythm of small squares, so closely arranged

as to reduce the sense of linear continuity to the abso-

lute minimum.

In VBW the small planes are laid out in rectilinear se-

quences whose continuity disappears with changes in

the color, size, and position of the planes.

In BBW the planes are generated by the lines and return

to them; in VBW lines and planes seem to become one

and the same thing.

While the space is nevertheless very dynamic (not least

because of the lozenge format), its dynamism is the re-

sult of a virtually unlimited number of planes interacting

with one another.

While the finite dimension of the planes appears to pre-

dominate now, their enormous number and variety tend

to evoke an infinite space. The infinite space of the lines

is now expressed through the finite space of the planes.

Everything varies in this painting, as it does in BBW, but

we no longer see any process leading to a unitary syn-

thesis. It is multiplicity that predominates here.

VBW appears to present an endless sequence of possi-

ble syntheses of yellow, red, and blue manifested in

constantly varying forms.

In actual fact, this is precisely what BBW tells us: uni-

tary synthesis opens up again to multiplicity. We en-

counter a great many instances of partial unity

(including white) in VBW, but not one that holds for the

composition as a whole. All the planes are in a state of

reciprocal motion. They are all relative and there is not

one that establishes itself as a synthesis of all the

others. I am reminded of the multiethnic society of New

York, where all cultures and all religions necessarily as-

sume relative value.

We mentioned unitary syntheses in white. A white form

verging on the square can be seen in the upper section

(diagram A) (1).

On the left we see a white plane (2) (with the same pro-

portions as the unitary synthesis of BBW) inside which

two small notes of color (yellow and red) are born.

These then develop linear sequences inside a third white

area (3), which is analogous in its proportions to the

square (1).

The synthesis we see in 1 is manifold at the same time

(3). All the colors (3) blossom from the white (1): first

the two small accents of yellow and red (2) and then

more substantial sequences of yellow, red, and blue (3).

A quick view taking in the composition as a whole picks

out a group of yellow planes that seem to evoke some-

thing more constant (diagram B).

On closer observation, we note that the eight yellow pla-

nes present analogous amounts of color but vary in their

proportions or present the same proportions but vary in

terms of position and relations with the surrounding

parts. We are thus observing either different entities

that are related to the same thing or the "same" entity

in a state of becoming, constantly changing in appea-

rance: the one and the many.

Here too, as in the canvases of 1930, there is nothing

more different than things that appear to be almost the

same.

Mondrian shows us this broader variation of yellow in

order to suggest that the variety he intends to evoke is

in actual fact far greater than the canvas can display.

It prompts us to imagine all the other different shapes,

sizes, and proportions that the white, gray, red, and

blue could also assume in all the possible positions and

reciprocal relations: a truly infinite "landscape".

As noted above, VBW is characterized by the almost

complete disappearance of lines, a crucial component of

Neoplastic space all the way up to BBW.

In VBW lines and planes become the same thing and

the sense of multiplicity or totality previously expressed

through the continuity of the lines now appears to be

wholly concentrated inside the canvas.

This has a precise meaning upon which it is necessary

to reflect. (see page 2)

Piet Mondrian Victory Boogie Woogie 1942-44

diagram A diagram B

Broadway

Boogie

Woogie

Neoplastic lines were born when the oval of the Cubist

period expanded beyond the finite space of the canvas

(see paintings 1, 2, 3) and the planes joined to generate

continuous lines (4).

The totality of space expressed by the oval as a whole

within the canvas (1) opened up (1916-19) and become

a totality manifested through lines that continue unin-

terruptedly (5, 6, 7).

The idea of totality conceived in a metaphysical form

(the oval) gave way to the assumed totality of real

space, to which the canvas belongs and the lines allude.

The manifold aspect of space underwent constant re-

duction as from 1919 (5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Mondrian's Neoplastic compositions attained greater

synthesis in the early 1920s because the artist saw the

finite space of the canvas connecting with the objective

space of the world through lines. The lines performed

the vital function of maintaining a link between the li-

mited space of the pictorial representation and the infi-

nite space of reality.

Mondrian thus concentrated all through the 1920s on

unitary synthesis (the white square field) (6), which ad-

mitted color, opened up, and multiplied (7 and all the

compositions Mondrian made around 1930).

He saw the need for the finite space of the canvas to

open up to the diversity of the world.

9: the unitary synthesis expanded beyond the canvas

almost as though in an attempt to coincide with the in-

finite space evoked by the lines, especially in the lo-

zenge compositions.

As from 1934, when the compositions gradually opened

up once again to complexity (10, 11) and the lines blos-

somed into color (12) as a multitude of small squares

(13), the sense of totality displayed in a virtual way only

by the black lines manifested itself in tangible and con-

crete form within the canvas.

It was as though the uniform black lines had contracted

to draw all of the variety previously situated outside the

painting back into the canvas.

In VBW the lines appear as sequences of small squares

or planes that begin, develop, and end inside the can-

vas. The lines no longer continue beyond the edges of

the canvas because "all" of the manifold aspect of the

world is now manifested inside the canvas itself.

Subjective representation seeks to coincide with the ob-

jective reality of the world.

Manifold space, previously expressed as assumed and

non-visible infinite extension (the continuity of the black

lines), gives way to manifold space understood as the

largest amount of variation wholly visible inside the

painting: variety that had not been seen since 4; mul-

tiplicity that the painter had endeavored between 1920

and 1933 (from 5 to 9) to drive beyond the canvas with

lines in order to concentrate on a unity designed to ex-

press both the one and the many at the same time (9).

From this viewpoint, the Neoplastic lines could be seen

as a sort of "memorandum" serving for over twenty

years as an ideal link between the representational

space of art and the space of reality (the oval) and then

dissolving on the return of the latter (the variety of pla-

nes).

The lines in VBW restore all the variety of the world to

the composition, which means that the totality of space

(formerly expressed by the oval) re-enters the canvas

in the two last paintings.

The whole of the European Neoplastic phase is a slow

and gradual opening up of unity to multiplicity (from 1

to 13). The one finally opens up to the point of coinci-

ding with the many (14).

While it is unity that alludes to virtual multiplicity in 9,

it is multiplicity that alludes to a series of possible uni-

ties in 14.

This is probably what Mondrian felt in his heart but was

not yet able to explain clearly when he said that there

was too much that was old even in BBW.

While the painting does express a high degree of multi-

plicity, he probably saw something old in the fact that it

was still necessary to evoke a part of reality virtually

through the continuity of the lines.

In talking about this work, the artist is also said to have

expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of yellow,

which is tantamount to saying the same thing. He must

have felt that lines were still excessively present in

BBW. Lines are the primary means of expression in dra-

wing, just as colored planes are in painting.

The lines become planes in BBW, and everything is a

plane in VBW.

Mondrian was again dissatisfied with VBW, and I can un-

derstand this. Some parts are not resolved very well

and it is now impossible to understand what state the

composition was in when the painter initially decided

that it could be regarded as a finished work.

The area of space in the left corner of the lozenge is

weak because the two small black planes abruptly in-

terrupt the rhythm flowing from the central section.

There is also something wrong with the section on the

right, where a marked concentration of small planes can

be seen, and with the area by the upper corner of the

lozenge, which appears to be unduly summary.

With compositions of this sort, one could obviously work

for some years before obtaining an even barely satisfac-

tory result.

© MICHAEL SCIAM

1 1915 2 1916 3 1917 4 1919 5 1920 6 1920 7 1932

8 1932 9 1933 10 1934 11 1937-42 12 1942 13 1942-43 14 1942-44